J Dessert Salon & J STUDIO

I am not sure what happened to this place! They were much better the first time I tried but it seems to have gone downhill. Pros- tasty savories, the avocado toast and yogurt parfait were very good, you leave full Cons- small tea selection, will ignore allergies/dietary changes, cheap ingredients, subpar tableware To start, the tea menu was already sparse at 8 kinds, and several teas were crossed out, leaving us with a choice of only 6 to choose from. If you are going to be running a tea place I would expect a minimum of 14, but I've been to my fair share of tea houses that have at least 20 tea selections to choose from. There were no warm food items, sweet or savory. I would have liked the scones to be warmed up. Additionally, the only condiments for the scones were a nut compund butter and some jam, which was kept behind the counter and was visibly smucker's grape jelly. If you take a peek behind the counter, you can tell that a lot of the items are premade and lower end (costco's kirkland brand, quaker oats granola, smuckers jam etc) which they should at least try to hide lol. I appreciate trying something new, but there was no lemon curd or clotted cream, which is typical for afternoon tea. I'm also allergic to all nuts but almonds, and could only eat one of the three scones, and could not eat the butter with nuts either despite me notifying them of my dietary needs while filling out the reservation form online prior to my arrival. Curiously, they did not give me any granola in my parfait because it had almonds, even though I specified that was the only nut I am not allergic to. The savouries were tasty, but the sweets were nothing to write home about. Despite the mix-up with the nut scones, they did use white bread for my avocado toast instead of walnut bread which I appreciated, and it was very tasty with the boiled egg. They also give you french macarons with the tea, which I liked. They do give you a lot of food items, I left full and with a takeout box, but I am also very petite at under 5' tall. Many of the items seem premade, it looks like there are very few items made in-house except for the sandwiches and parfait. I understand that it takes additional money+permits to be able to cook at an establishment like this in Santa Clara, so I'll let it slide. This may be a nit-pick, but there was no tablecloth on the table, and the utensils were plastic and rolled into a paper cocktail napkin and secured with a small plastic hairband. I go out to tea to feel fancy, and plastic forks are not fancy. I also suspect they have been jacking up their tea prices so you feel like you're getting a discount when you buy their Groupon deals, Crown and Crumpet tea in San Francisco and Lovejoy's(multiple locations) have far better afternoon tea for a lower price, even without a discount. I don't think I will be coming back.

We found this place through Groupon and will go back. We had a pleasant relaxing afternoon here. Cute setting and decor. Tasty sandwiches, scones and desserts to go along with your tea choice.

Was a very nice Tea, delicious food. While it wasn't as fancy as some, that is not necessary. It was well presented and we enjoyed it.

I don't give it 5 stars because I didn't like the red beans in the Bingsoo.

This is a wonderful idea and the area definitely would benefit from a nice tea salon, because the afternoon Tea in Fairmont hotel and the former two Lisa's Tea house establishments have closed. The pastries were fresh, tasty and beautifully arranged in festive 3-tiers with gold-plated handle. The tables have casual tablecloths and the place offers two picture walls for momentos and a separate section for private parties. The china we received was tick stoneware, not a bone china seen on the pictures, but it had a golden rim and looked elegant. Although there were only 4 tables in the room and only one occupied, 2 of the tables were not cleaned from the previous party. The tablecloth at the place we were seated had crumbs. The tea menu lists the tea names in 4 categories (green, black, ...), but without any description for the taste and features. The utensils are plastic spoon, fork and knife wrapped in a paper napkin and rubber band. For the $40+ price per person I would expect silverware and the plastic succulents pots to be with real plants. The door indicated the establishment is hiring and the service received was evident of the staffing shortage.